Question

So who is that guy with the phony black beard?
Is it really Osama? Scott Adams thinks so:

I assume this new video is from the real Osama because a fake would do a better job matching the beard. In other words, the real Osama looks too fake to be an actual fake.

But then goes on to talk about how easy it would be for some government agency to create a fake Osama video. Why would they do you might ask - but if you did ask you have not been paying attention for the last six years. The headline in Time Magazine is
Bin Laden Fights to Stay Relevant.
It could just as easily read:
The Bush administration and the neocons fight to keep Bin Laden Relevant.
That would include keeping him alive even if he wasn't. Very few are questioning the authenticity of the tape. Steve Soto hints at it:

After previously talking up the war in Iraq, isn't it a little too convenient for the purported Osama in this videotape to now seemingly support ending the war in Iraq, and to bash Democrats for not living up to the promise of the midterm elections?

That kind of two-fer could have been written by any number of GOP operatives inside the Beltway or in Texas, especially on the 6th anniversary of 9/11 at a time when the White House will tie Iraq to 9/11 once again next week.

Now the CIA says it's real but they have gotten used to being told what to find before they analyze it. In addition to the appearance we have the content. It is unlike anything he has said before - he comes off sounding like a Vulcan mind meld of Karl Marx and Jerry Falwell with a dash of Al Gore thrown in. And of course there is the fact that it was not available on the sites where one would expect such things to be seen.

OK, after six years of the Bush administration I wear my tinfoil hat most of the time. As I said below:

Dubya and Osama have a symbiotic relationship - each one is strengthened by the acts of the other.

That still applies to Bush even if Osama is dead.
Update
David Brooks got the Talking points (or perhaps he's just an idiot)
Brooks: In His New Tape, Bin Laden Sounds Like He’s Been ‘Reading Lefty Blogs’

Last night on PBS’ The NewsHour, New York Times columnist David Brooks compared 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden’s latest video message to “lefty blogs,” saying the al Qaeda head is like “one of these childish people posting rants at the bottom of the page.” He then went to describe why he drew such a comparison:

You read this thing, and it’s like he’s been sitting around reading lefty blogs, and he’s one of these childish people posting rants at the bottom the page, you know, Noam Chomsky and all this stuff.

You can’t help read it and not laugh at it, occasionally, because it is just absurd. It’s flying this way, and that way, weird conspiracy theories, and mortgages, global warming. He throws it all in there.

And the wingnut blogosphere was quick to jump on this meme.

Brooks’ comments are part of an effort by prominent right-wing voices to try to tie Osama bin Laden to the left. At Hot Air, Allahpundit claimed bin Laden sounded like a “socialist icon,” invoking many of the same passages Brooks did. At Political Vindication, Uncle Seth the Noble went further, claiming bin Laden sounded like Daily Kos’ Markos Moulitsas:

It's enough to make my tinfoil hat go wild!
Update II
Steve Benen has some harsh words about Mr Brook's comments:

Brooks, supposedly one of the media's favorite "serious" grown-ups, is playing the same offensive game far-right activists have been playing for years: tying the 9/11 architect to the left. It's insulting and ridiculous, but Brooks' sentiment was echoed, aggressively, by the usual suspects.

And he repeats what I have said here over and over:

Having said that, it's probably worth noting, from time to time, that if Osama bin Laden were to sit down and write a gameplan for what he'd like to see the United States do since 2001, it would look eerily similar to the approach taken by the Bush administration over the last six years.

And Rove lives:

In this sense, Brooks' comments, and those from other far-right voices, are part of a classic Rovian strategy -- identify your rival's strength, and go after it vociferously. Indeed, the strident rhetoric and the nonsensical finger-pointing reeks of desperation, as if the president's political supporters hope that if they scream "OBL (hearts) Democrats" loud enough, no one will notice that Bush's presidency has been everything al Qaeda could have hoped for, and more.

It's kind of sad, when you think about it.

Sad indeed!